Either there is some perverse, self-destructive reverse psychology driving Trumpian Republicans, or politicians in this party are the greatest con artists on earth.
The Republican conmen
Tag: Trump
In what critics are calling a parting gift to the fossil fuel industry, the Trump administration on Tuesday will ask oil and gas companies to choose which areas of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska—which is the sacred homeland of the Gwich’in Indigenous people—they would like to drill.
Trump Administration Rushes to Auction Off Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Drilling Rights Before Biden Inauguration | Common Dreams News
Despite his authoritarian tendencies, Donald Trump never came close to dragging us into fascism. But he did drag us further toward a xenophobic, anti–working-class, right-wing-populist abyss. Those forces will continue to destroy American and global politics — if we don’t take them on and defeat them.
Here’s What We Learned About the Far Right From Donald Trump’s Presidency
WHEN JOE HOCKEY, former cigar-chomping Australian Treasurer in Tony Abbott’s government and Australian ambassador to the USA between January 2016 and January 2020, made it clear that he agreed with his golfing buddy Donald Trump that fraud “for sure” characterised Democratic Party voting and that “there’s plenty of good reason to have litigation, I mean it is a complete dog’s breakfast right across the country,” he did more than jump into the unaerated, putrid goldfish bowl. He inadvertently shone a light on the real nature of the relationship between the current Australian Government and the Trump White House, a relationship which exposed the Australian Government as a kind of ex-officio branch of the Trump Republican Party.
Morrison’s Trumpist dilemma: A credible revisionist narrative is impossible
The JVP is right: “Israel is a state and does not represent communities in the diaspora… It is what it is.” However, if the Israeli government takes a stand in the fight against anti-Semitism, it should stop looking for anti-Semites where they do not exist, which is not amongst defenders of human rights and universal rules of refuge and return. If Netanyahu and his sidekick Benny Gantz are really serious about tackling anti-Semitism, they should tackle the support base of their main ally in the White House. This has never happened, of course, and it never will.
Why is the Israeli Gov’t Rooting for a 2nd Term for Trump and his White Nationalist, anti-Semitic Allies?
I hate to say this but Rupert Murdoch said this was America’s biggest problem and something had to be done about it well before Trump even entered the race for the Presidency. I’m about to say Trump didn’t invent Trumpism but Rupert Murdoch did and chose Trump to politicize it. Trump did but that’s as far as he got. He delivered little more than a shit load of promises and was boosted by Murdoch. It’s why Murdoch believes it’s JOE TIME (ODT)
The only liberal antidote to Trumpism is actually doing something material to aid those who’ve fallen for it — giving them something in their lives to noticeably improve their social welfare, redistributing wealth downwards. Franklin Roosevelt absorbed this lesson, as evidenced by the New Deal Coalition; it is unclear if a Biden administration is capable of doing the same. Indeed, if Biden’s administration doesn’t do anything to materially improve the lives of millions of working voters, Trumpism is apt to get stronger, not weaker, in the next four years.
Trump is defeated. Trumpism is more alive than ever | Salon.com
Donald Trump, refusing to accept the result as he mounts a series of legal challenges in a bid to retain power. And somewhere in between is a hot mess over election integrity: from conspiracy theories about dead people casting votes en masse, to claims and counterclaims of officials rigging ballots to manipulate the outcome.
US election results 2020: patchwork election system could learn from Australia
Trump’s demise signifies a powerful rejection of the use of false narratives that create alternate realities and there’s a message here for Morrison, writes Dr Jennifer Wilson.
Trump may be gone but in Morrison, he lives
My thought for the day The purpose of propaganda is to make you feel good about the wrongs being perpetrated on you.
For better or for worse, we are much like America – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Media magnate Rupert Murdoch and outgoing US President Donald Trump have long had a rocky relationship – but the pair share one thing in common. They both love to win.
Is Rupert Murdoch really turning his back on Donald Trump?
The media are reporting that anti-Trump protesters are outnumbering pro-Trump protesters at various places throughout the USA. This is being disputed by the Trump camp who argue that only protesters who’d been there since Election Day should be counted.
Trump Loses OR The Devil Went Down To Georgia! – » The Australian Independent Media Network
My thought for the day The best one can say when looking for a reason as to why Trump lost is to say that he lied his way out of office.
The U.S. Presidential Election: Observations of an Australian outsider – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Mike Pence certainly didn’t agree with Trump
Few Republican Party leaders or right-wing media stars backed Trump’s claims on illegitimate votes, and many repudiated it. Jon Schwarz
Trump Says Election Is Being Stolen. The GOP Isn’t So Sure.
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“We’ll be going to the US Supreme Court, we want all voting to stop”
Trump falsely and predictably claims he already won the 2020 election – The Verge
Donald Trump’s effect on his party is clear, as is that of his UK counterpart Boris Johnson — both have made genuine conservatives homeless.
How Donald Trump and Boris Johnson destroyed Western conservatism
At a rally in September, he told supporters the only presidential election he would accept as legitimate would be the one he wins. “We do want a very friendly transition,” he told the crowd. “But we don’t want to be cheated, and be stupid, and say, ‘Oh, let’s transit.’
Trump Reportedly ‘Plans To Declare Victory Before Election Is Called’ | HuffPost Australia
Polls highly favour Joe Biden to win the US presidential election.
These polls are not just abstract information. By telling prospective voters who is the most likely to win, can they influence the result of the election by playing a role in the voters’ decision? The evidence says yes, and it most likely favours Biden.
In theory, you could imagine two possible effects of polls. First, a momentum effect. Second, an underdog effect.
With President Donald Trump’s reelection hopes seemingly fading, Fox News star Tucker Carlson made an 11th hour push on Tuesday night to try to will him to victory. He devoted his entire program to an interview with Tony Bobulinski, a former business partner of Hunter Biden, in the latest dubious salvo of an extensive campaign by Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch’ media outlets to tarnish Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden via his son’s business interests.
The Murdochs’ desperate final push to use Hunter Biden to reelect Donald Trump | Media Matters for America
Donald Trump has made it clear that he plans to declare victory on election night. He’ll do it when the returns are primarily based on in-person voting from that day. The president and his enablers launched a massive disinformation campaign based on the lie that mail-in ballots are fraudulent so that he could create chaos by claiming that they shouldn’t be counted.Donald Trump has made it clear that he plans to declare victory on election night. He’ll do it when the returns are primarily based on in-person voting from that day. The president and his enablers launched a massive disinformation campaign based on the lie that mail-in ballots are fraudulent so that he could create chaos by claiming that they shouldn’t be counted.
Fox News May Be Heading Towards an Epic Election-Night Showdown | Washington Monthly
“Trump has attacked virtually every important check-and-balance institution in the US that’s got in his way – the intelligence community, judges, the media. Every significant constraint, he wants to get rid of it.” Of course, he’s also opposed to the ultimate constraint in a democracy – the outcome of elections, unless he happens to win.
. “It’s got crazy when you have a US president promoting completely outrageous false information like QAnon,” the fantasist conspiracy movement. “He came into office completely unprepared and instead of being awed by the responsibility, he’s failed to take it seriously. From top to bottom, he’s filled his administration with mediocrities whose only qualification is loyalty to the President’s family. “Almost every statement that comes out of his mouth is a lie. It’s hard to imagine anyone with worse judgment and less qualified to be president.”
“He came into office completely unprepared and instead of being awed by the responsibility, he’s failed to take it seriously. From top to bottom, he’s filled his administration with mediocrities whose only qualification is loyalty to the President’s family.
“Almost every statement that comes out of his mouth is a lie. It’s hard to imagine anyone with worse judgment and less qualified to be president.”
The end of democracy? If Trump loses, Trumpism still wins
Know Your Enemy is a podcast about conservatism that takes analyzing its ideas and actions seriously. As we approach the end of Trump’s presidential term, we talked to its hosts about the state of the Republican Party and the Right after nearly four years of President Trump.
Michelle Obama has observed that being president does not change who you are. It reveals who you are. The same could be said of the nation: that its president does not change who we are but reveals who we are. And what Donald Trump has revealed about America has taught us sobering lessons about ourselves.
The Eight Things Trump Reveals About America | Washington Monthly
Noam Chomsky, one of the world’s foremost public intellectuals, has provided the international left with wisdom, guidance and inspiration for nearly 60 years. Proving that he operates at the locus where argumentation and activism meet, he demonstrates indispensable intellectual leadership on issues of foreign policy, democratic socialism and rejection of corporate media bromides.
Noam Chomsky: “If you don’t push the lever for the Democrats, you are assisting Trump” | Salon.com
The US president has lowered the bar so much, the rest of the world is happy to settle for underperforming leaders @vanbadham Sun 18 Oct 2020 06.00 AEDT Last modified on Sun 18 Oct 2020 06.46 AEDT Shares 100
Next to Trump, even Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison look good | Van Badham | Opinion | The Guardian
Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News and an associate of President Donald Trump, has told people close to him that he thinks Democrat Joe Biden will easily win the election.
Fox News’ Owner Murdoch Predicts Biden Landslide Win | Newsmax.com
From Down Under we see a sick deluded man of no redeeming features, full of racial hatred, bile and misogyny. A deluded, pathetic liar unsuitable for the highest office in the land, if not the world. He sees complex problems and impregnates them with populism and implausible black and white solutions.
Only in America: A look at Trump from Down Under (part 2) – » The Australian Independent Media Network
Donald Trump Took Advantage of the US’s Legalized Corruption
Donald Trump is deeply corrupt. That corruption is a product of the larger kleptocratic system, created by a judiciary that would favor the rich even more with Amy Barrett on the Supreme Court.
Donald Trump Took Advantage of the US’s Legalized Corruption
Only Trump
President Trump’s reelection bid received a vote of support Friday from an entity most in his party would reject: the Taliban.
The Taliban on Trump: “We hope he will win the election” and withdraw U.S. troops – CBS News
Political scientist Katherine J. Cramer has studied the changing political attitudes of rural Wisconsinites — a group that helped put Donald Trump in the White House. “Rural resentment” may not get much attention, but it’s a real and powerful force in US politics.
We Can’t Ignore Rural Voter Resentment
President Donald Trump, who continues to recover from symptoms of COVID-19 in the wake of his recent hospitalization, repeatedly dodged questions about whether he had recently tested positive for the disease during a lengthy Thursday phone interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. At one point, the president stopped speaking as he attempted to stifle his cough mid-rant about his former Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Trump publicly mocked Clinton for contracting pneumonia on the 2016 campaign trail.
Coughing Trump struggles to speak as he dodges Sean Hannity’s questions about his COVID-19 tests | Salon.com
A MODERN DAY NERO
US President Donald Trump has described his COVID-19 infection as a “blessing from God” in a new video filmed at the White House in which he promises to make the experimental drug he received available for free to all Americans. Introducing himself as “your favourite president”, Trump said he regarded the experimental antibody treatment, made by pharma company Regeneron, as a “cure” for coronavirus. There is no cure for the virus, according to medical experts.
Trump says COVID-19 infection ‘a blessing from god’, promises Regeneron for free
So if I were forced to pick between this being real and something Trump made up, I’d pick the scenario that he has actually been diagnosed with Covid-19 for a few simple Occam’s Razor-like reasons: 1) He’s been trying to play down Covid-19 all year, so to now tell people it’s something that can disrupt his election campaign suggests that he might have got it wrong. 2) Disappearing for a few days or weeks disrupts his narrative that he’s a strong man and nothing can stop him. 3) The fact that Hope Hicks was diagnosed first and then he and Melanie got tested indicates a level of planning that I suspect would be too difficult for Trump as it involves a two-step plan. 4) It’s been suggested that the Republicans told him to hide away so that he didn’t have to do any more debates because he lost. Trump never listens to anyone so it’s unlikely he’d believe them about either losing the debate or the necessity of hiding so that he didn’t need to do more. 5) This puts Covid-19 front and centre when Trump has been trying to shift the campaign chatter to the economy. While he could theoretically argue that the big drop in markets when he tested positive shows how much he’s needed, that’s not the sort of argument that sways many people. It’s sort of like when your partner turns up late when you’ve been trying to prepare for guests and says, “Wow, look at the mess you’re in. This just shows how important I am!” If you really wanted to impress, it would have been better to have been there.
Trump, Conspiracies And Occam’s Razor! – » The Australian Independent Media Network
The lesson of Donald Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis is not that he deserved it or that anyone should celebrate — it’s that you can’t pretend that the basic laws governing the universe don’t apply to you forever.
Trump Could Only Ignore the Reality of Coronavirus for So Long
